Sonic Boom: Placebo Effect
by Cutegirlmayra1
Summary: Mishearing something about who Amy likes, Sonic is convinced to try a 'love potion' Tails brewed up. Hoping to spare Amy's feelings from being rejected by- Shadow? hold on, that can't be right! Falling under the placebo effect, the mess gets worse when Amy actually confesses her feelings for Sonic! But will Sonic believe she's not just under some crazy magic love spell? (Sonamy)


Sonic Boom:

Placebo Effect

By: Cutegirlmayra (Okay, so someone near and dear asked me in a recent Discord Event a question about if I was going to make any Boom!Sonamy fanfiction. I didn't have any plans for one, but then I realized my only Sonic Boom story was a script, and I immediately had a better idea for a story formatted sequence of unfortunate events XD This should be fun~)

Sonic spun up from the ground before immediately being shoved back by another on-coming laser, forcing him to skid across the sand once more.

"OFfph!" he fell backwards, rolling his head slightly as he moaned from the shock of the impact. "A laser _and_ whiplash. Could this day get any worse?"

"Who-ho-ho-ho!"

Eggman stuck his nose far up in the air and laughed.

"Sounds like someone's finally on the other side of the beatdown!" Eggman then rubbed his head, bringing it down as if having a moment of evil empathy. " _Hurts_ , doesn't it?"

Sonic frowned, growling as his lips parted momentarily to show his annoyance with slightly slanted teeth. However, he felt a pang of worry the second he heard a high pitched cry. Turning around, he saw the sand of the coast spray up from impact.

When it settled at a dramatic angle, he looked to see Amy laying against the once disturbed sand… face down.

"Amy!" Sonic hurried to her side, sliding with one foot to skillfully pull himself around in an arch around her. He quickly adjusted himself and leaned over her, searching for any sign of movement…

"Augh…" she looked pretty knocked out and rolled her face slightly in its sandy tomb. "Sonic..?" she asked, rubbing her cheek away from he warm sand and hazily looking around, as though delirious for a moment.

"Phew. You really made a cannonball in the sand there, didn't ya? Uh-wah-ah! N-no-not saying you caused that from your weight or anything! Your weight's fine! Uhh.." he realized his mistake too late, accidentally worried she took that as a 'fat' joke. Which… she wouldn't have. In fact… to Sonic she was rather slender… a slight curve here and there… and maybe a little- Gah! Weird thoughts! Banish, vanish, diminish!

Faintly, as he shook his bundled fists and squinted his eyes shut as if saying something to himself in his mind, Amy spoke out again… "I… I've wanted to say... that I really... I really like…"

Her voice lulled away as her mostly slit eyes finally closed shut, and she seemed to softly faint to the ground. Her head untensed and slightly rolled to one side as though her neck stopped supporting it all together.

"…Really like what?" His eyes were fixated in a strange stare at her. While curiosity nested on his mind, the rest of the team began to get the upper hand on Eggman. They pushed him back while he lifted his arms up as if surrendering or maybe trying to protect himself?

Sonic leaned a little more away from her, gesturing his hands out again towards space, unable to let this lack of closure go. "Ice cream? Battles on the beach? Me showing even remotely any concern about your well-being whatsoever? Well, it can't be Meh Burger…"

-Sonic's Shack-

Amy slowly opened her eyes, blinking in confusion as she groaned slightly and leaned up, touching her head. She felt some pain shoot up and connect with the touch, understanding then that the bump she got was worse than she imagined.

She found the surface to be rather… unstable. So when she looked down, she was quite shocked to see herself laying in Sonic's hammock.

"Hey! You're finally up."

In an odd change of events, Sonic walked over with a cheery, neutral grin on his face and sat down on a bucket, holding a wet washcloth.

He lightly leaned her back and dabbed her forehead, "Tails said you were knocked out pretty hard, so I thought- Hey! When I get hurt, Amy usually takes me to her place to recover and watch over me. I thought it'd be a nice touch…" he suddenly looked at the cloth. "W-well, I just didn't think you'd mind." He grew a little nervous, chuckling slightly as he moved his hand away; still holding the freshly cooled and damp cloth he was using to calm her aching forehead. "It was about time I gave you the same treatment, right?"

She was flustered, to say the least. She usually took him in because no one else knew how to address wounds other than Tails… Sticks was a little savage with her way of attending something, so Amy just always volunteered. That… and she really did care about her patient…

"Sonic... that's so..." she smiled flusteredly, "Sweet of you to consider."

She tried to flush out the red from her face and decided to try and enjoy this, giggling just as nervously as Sonic had done with his chuckle, and placing her hands on her stomach. She laid back and crunched into herself a little bit, not used to being the one 'pampered' by gentle care.

"Nice hammock." She felt her heart racing, smelling his scent so up-close and personal now that she was, technically, being allowed to sleep on his bed.

"Haha, Thanks. I fixed the strings for when you got here. Nothing personal." He rubbed his neck, then adjusted his bandana…

Was he always this shy..?

Or was it just because it was the two of them, and she was in his home?

Wouldn't that make people more comfortable? Surrounded by things they were already familiar with?

Maybe the familiarity between the two made it awkward, Amy couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Anyway. I was also curious of something you said…" Suddenly, Sonic leaned back, folding his arms. He felt the wet of the cloth though, and looked at it, pulling it out and scrambling to be a good friend and place it back on her head. "Oh, uh-! Here..."

He leaned over her, reaching up, and making her blush again at the close distance.

She didn't want to make it more awkward, seeing as he was already avoiding eye-contact. But he was really just trying to mimic what Amy would do when he was beat-up or hurt.

"Ehem, a…heh-heh… WhatwasIsaying?" He quickly sped through his words, something he did when he was uncomfortable. His eyes kept darting away from hers, and she felt the spark of electricity between them. She silently wished he could be just a little bolder, but also scared of what that might look like…

"O-oh, I said something?" She pushed herself further down, withdrawing into the 'sink' of the hammock.

She honestly _loved_ the attention, but had to play it off!

He lightly pressed the cloth down with a few more dabs, before holding it there and looking away again.

"W-well,… you said you liked something. I wasn't quite sure what you meant. But I knew it couldn't be the thrill of the fight, right?" He looked down now, actually attempting eye-contact. "I mean, you can fight, but I remember you saying once that you'd rather not have too. Sometimes." He arched his eyebrows, showing some concern and truly wanting to know what she was talking about.

He just couldn't let questions like his go unanswered... if he knew he could get the answer, anyway. "So... what do you really like?"

"H-huh?" Amy didn't quite understand and was more focused on something entirely different than his words...

It was that moment, when he dipped his head further down to hear any reply she might make, that he realized how actually close up and personal the two of them were getting…

Before, he hadn't really paid it too much mind. More focused on wording his request, but now the full height of his nerves came into play.

The distance was absolutely, and mutually considered, a breath away…

"Gah!" Sonic flung his being off and away from leaning over her and the hammock, taking the cloth with him before looking at it, feeling bad, and throwing it on her face. "S-sorry! I didn't-! I wasn't-!"

Amy slowly removed the cloth, then placed it on her forehead, looking sympathetically to Sonic. "I-it's alright. I honestly wasn't bothered so…" she mentally sighed, but refused to be frustrated with him. Especially since he was trying so hard to be considerate and kind...

Sonic collected himself and started again, "Anyway! What did you mean by- I really like…?"

Amy's sweat-drop awkward expression of trying not to show how much she liked being close to him suddenly shifted to a blank drop of all emotion.

 _Now she understood what she must have muttered on the beach... making Sonic so inquisitive as he was..._

She was beginning to panic…

"W-what did I say?" the red of her blush started to reform again, hoping he would say something else but the same sentence came back out of his mouth.

He turned to her more fully, still looking determined to know. "You said, I really like… and trailed off into lala land." He gestured with his hand, before moving towards her again, placing his hands on his hips. "Well? I was wondering what you meant by that…"

"Ha..haha…hahahaha…" Amy reached for the outside of the hammock, but fell and landed with a hard ' _thump_ ' on the ground, then started to laugh with shrunken eyes and crawl away from Sonic. She kept scurrying off until disappearing behind his couches and making her way to his stairs…

"…?" Sonic watched with absolute confusion at her behavior. "Amy?" he started to follow with a sideways walk passed the couches to wherever she was going to.

"Gee, look at the time!" Amy, still on all fours, started to make her way up to the only room above Sonic's humble shack; connecting to an antic-bedroom of sorts.

"I don't have a clock!" Sonic argued, his eyebrows narrowing. 'Why would she avoid answering me?' It was obvious she was… but… was it that big of a deal?

"Hey! Ames! Wait up!"

"N-no, I'm just gonna- *cough cough* Ack! I think I need to lay down and be alone for a second…" she got to the top of the stairs and walked in quickly, closing the door behind her.

Sonic looked up the stairs, before growling a bit in irritation, "Hey!" he cried out, "No one runs from Sonic T. Hedgehog! He runs from you! Hmph."

He folded his arms, pouting at how he could allow her to get away so quickly…

But then looked to the window.

"Ah…" He smirked, getting an idea. "Or sometimes… I can run to ya!" he raced out the window, climbing along his roof to push himself up against the outer wall and peek around the window.

It was hard to hear with all the wind… so he wanted to move in closer… but it sounded like she was freaking out… definitely talking to herself… about... something…

Amy had stuffed her face into a pillow in the upper room, turning around to flop on the other side of the bed and kick her legs out, "I can't believe I almost told Sonic that I … I love… ssss….Shaaa-ahahahaha! Ow!" She hit her head when flinging her legs out and swishing her body back and forth. Rubbing it, she remembered the pain she had felt when she last touched it. 'Still painful as ever... even this crush is torture!' she mentally scolded herself for not taking better care of her head, that... and hopefully not making holes in Sonic's shack...

However... Sonic's face outside went blank and white…

"… _Shadow?_ "

You could see a moment of glass shattering, of mental demolition, and a broken hope lost within it too…

Sonic looked down. A slight whimper escaping his usually so relaxed and cool lips… now they swiggled with betrayed daydreams that only happened on weird afternoons of loneliness.

 _He was so sure…_

 _He had always just thought…_

When some time passed, Sonic looked out the window from the bottom floor, folding his arms and acting rude when Amy came down.

"Sorry! I had a good nap though!"

She waved, still nervous, but Sonic just shrugged his shoulders, not even looking at her.

"Yeah, great. I'm glad."

He said with the least amount of care he could possibly muster.

Unsure why he was acting strange, Amy slowly lowered the hand she had raised to greet him, and started for the door.

"Okay… well, I guess I'll be going then…"

"Yeah, cool. Don't trip on your way out." He walked over to the door as she exited.

"Haha… I, um… See you got yourself a door!" She tried to leave on a better note, but Sonic's frown and unemotional eyes just blinked as he hunched over and took ahold of the side of the door with one arm.

"Yeah. _Whoopidoo_."

He closed it pretty abruptly.

Amy flinched at the slamming door, before looking sorrowfully after it… 'Is he okay? I hope I didn't insult his feelings by not answering him… I just… it didn't seem like the right time to...' she wondered about that for a moment… was it the right time? Just then?

She held her hands to her heart and took a deep breath, before whimpering to herself that she may have chickened out on the perfect opportunity to tell Sonic she really liked him…

But regardless, that time had passed and her disappointment would only last with a carton of ice cream… always waiting for her at home.

She walked away…

-Tails's place-

"She's in love with Shadow!"

"W-what? That can't be right!"

"I heard it myself!"

Disgusted, agitated, and overly confounded; Sonic tightened his fist and threw his arms up, folding them later to try and withhold all the strange emotions bottling up inside himself.

Knuckles 'hmm'd as if thinking, scratching underneath his chin. "Are you _suuuuree_ she didn't say… ice cream!? Or-or… Meh burger! Wait… that can't be right."

Sonic flung around, gesturing to Knuckles, "That's what I said! I said that couldn't be right! Shadow? They don't even talk! He's the exact opposite of a _'dreamboat'_ and would rather strangle a basket of flowers with kitten 'get well soon' cards than go on a date with a pretty girl!" The team all blinked their eyes at him…

"…Ehem, I mean,… not that Amy's p-pr-pretty or whatever, just any girl… all girls are nice… eh-heh. Whyareyoustaring!?" He stomped his foot down after getting uncomfortable, but they didn't break eye-contact for more than a split second.

"That just sounds kinda harsh is all. Especially coming from you." Sticks admitted, before lifting her hands up and bundling them together by the side of her cheek. He hadn't realized they were staring at the fact that he would use such language to describe Shadow and nothing to do with his adjective for Amy... "Ah~ And you're wrong about Shadow. Sure! He's rough around the edges… a heartbreaker for sure… _literally_ … but some girls like the basket case… _not_ literally." Sticks suddenly remembered his last phrasing… "But he's got the package! I mean, dark… handsome.. brooding… mysterious… edgy and uh.. short guys! Well, sometimes." Sticks doted before shrugging and looking up, "Maybe I like Shadow…" she wondered out loud, rubbing her index finger on her head as Tails shook his in response to her.

"You like trash." Tails said in the most sarcastic tone possible.

"Ha! True that!" Sticks dived for his garbage, rummaging back in it. "Dark, brooding,… but one thing Shadow ain't as far as I'm concerned… Smelly!" she pulled out a questionable bag and sniffed it, proud of her finding, before gagging and letting it drop. "P'ew! That's the stinkest leftovers I've ever smelled!"

"Their Meh Burgers." Tails shrugged.

"Ohhh~" They all seemed to get it now in unison before they turned back to the topic at hand; Sticks continued on though, licking her lips and diving further into the garbage bin.

"Either way, he's not even that- I mean… he'll break her heart, Tails!" Sonic tried to make it look like he was more concerned for Amy… but something inside him wanted to know why he wasn't good enough… He always assumed Amy's affections were to him, and never paid much mind or attention to it. But now… with this new discovery, he was worried he may not be as close with Amy as he hoped. Did it just... appear to be the case? And wasn't?

He certainly didn't want to find out he had lost to Shadow! Ugh! The very thought sent a shot of rage pulsing through his veins, making his muscles tense up from the very idea.

He could see it now… and with his blood boiling, the picture of Shadow laughing at him upon some high pedestal. His arm would be around Amy, hers holding him back and her eyes looking adoringly down at him. _A smug little crown on his smug little head._

"The punk…" Sonic twitched his fists, lost in his aggravating and humiliating daydream.

"What you need is a love potion!" Knuckles pulled out a storybook and excitedly rushed over to a chair, plopping down and pulling out his glasses. "Says 'ere you just need to spray it in someone's face… but woah-ho!" He slammed the book, "Honestly, the repercussions are so extreme with these things. I haven't read the ending yet…" He scratched his head, looking back at the book. "But I think everything turns out alright?" He peeked open the book, looking at a picture that looked like certain doom. "But I'm pretty sure we'll all live." he closed the book again, looking content in his deductions.

"Knuckles, there are no such things as-" Tails started before Sticks popped her head out again, some of Tails's trashed electrical boxes rolled off her head and shoulders, crashing and scattering their junked carcasses all around the floor.

"Yes there is." Sticks walked out of the trash, kicking it down to add some effect as Tails groaned at the mess he'd be forced to clean up after they all left. "But they're illegal in this country. Island. State. Thingy." She tried to get her leg out by wobbling over to her friends, but with a few good shakes, she went hurtling off into Tails's wall. The shelves of his works started to tilt, and in fear, Tails flew up and quickly stopped them from toppling down on her.

"Phew." he started adjusting the boards so they would remain upright again and helped Sticks up, trying not to gag at how she smelled now. You know... _trying_ to be polite and gentlemanly.

"G-guys, come on. I don't need a magic potion." Sonic chuckled nervously, worried he might lose some street cred that way.

Tails looked over to Sonic, his head in a bit of puzzlement before a thought struck him.

'This is clearly a misunderstanding. Amy **indefinitely** has a crush on Sonic, not Shadow..! So maybe… Honestly, all Sonic needs is a little push and-'

Then he got an idea, "Yeeeeah… a love potion! I could whip one up real quick!" Tails rubbed his hands together when no one was looking. "Pheromones are too dangerous for this experiment… what I need is a bluff!" Tails rushed to his refrigerator, poured out a vile of oil and replaced the contents with jelly for his sandwiches he'd make in his workshop.

He rushed back, "Wallah! Simple as that!"

Sticks, not convinced, moved up and smelled the potion.

"Uck! Smells like berries." She then nodded, "Yep. That's the stuff of potiononry, witcheroo stuff!" Tails believed she had no idea what she was talking about.

He laughed nervously, "U-Uh-huh." trying to pull off this scam might be challenging, but he moved over to Sonic.

"Wait, you're telling me that stuff exists? And why do you have it?" Sonic pointed accusingly to him, which made him shift his eyes and have to think fast.

"Uh..Uh.." before he could respond, Knuckles nudged his back.

"Ohhh~ I get it! Zooey giving you a hard time there, buddy?"

Sonic suddenly shook his head to Tails, "Guess I'm not the only one…"

"Wha..?" Tails froze up, realizing what they were applying. "N-no! Zooey and I are-!" he realized he had to play this up and stopped himself from defending his relationship status with his own crush...

"Ohh…" He pouted in frustration, before letting it go, handing Sonic the mixture. "Whatever. Here. A little drop of this on Amy and she'll realize she doesn't actually like Shadow. But likes you."

Sonic hesitated, not sure if he should really resort to this.

"If making Amy think I'm the bee's knees… It might save her from inevitable heartbreak." He sighed, acting selflessly. "Besides, it could cure her from not having realized it in the first place." He narrowed his eyes with a slight pout of his pride getting a bit hurt there. "Okay, then… b-but I really don't think I _need_ this… I'm just… viewing all my options,.. is all." He studied the jelly-filled flask to see its contents gush a little around before gulping at the idea of this predicament. "One drop… I can do this. F-for Amy's sake.."

Could he really justify putting his friend under a love potion? Forcing her to feel something she naturally didn't? It didn't seem right... but to satisfy his friends, m-maybe he'd just hold on to it for now.

Tails smiled, glad his plan was working so far.

He patted Sonic on the shoulder, "Sure, we know that, Sonic! And think of it this way! You're just gathering the courage needed, with an extra added bit of help from this juic-…y! _Juicy_ love potion!...haha… to help Amy see the error of her ways in choosing dark and brooding over… well, over other, more positive things." He nodded, struggling to make sense of all this.

Good thing his friends weren't always the smartest.

He would explain it to Amy later, telling her he'd thought it'd be easier on Sonic if he thought he had the added ruse. Amy might even thank him if Sonic admitted something… anything… it might actually end up well for everyone.

But… would it?

Tails worried suddenly, would he lose his best friend if something like that really did happen..? The circle they created... would it abruptly end? Then, an angelic thought about something Zooey said one time came to his mind.

He looked up, remembering telling her he worried about spending too much time with her instead of his gang, and she responded sweetly that-

" _As long as we're all good friends, we can always spend time together._ "

He nodded and carried on with his deception~ Believing in Zooey's words.

-Meh Burger-

"There she is!"

The gang all hid from sight, watching Amy eat a burger and enjoy her time alone. She often checked her communicator though, but they had their's on silent, missing her calls.

She raised an eyebrow, "Huh." She left suspicion behind and carried on back to her meal. But in the back of her mind, she wondered where everyone could be.

"Okay, you got the plan?" Tails turned to Sonic.

He looked a little nervous… "You know, maybe I should just let her find out on her own how terribly **crushed** she's going to be? I mean,… or maybe just let her… I don't know… grow out of it?" He shrugged, "The thing is-!" he suddenly flipped out a little and moved his hands out everywhere. "What's the point of all this!? If Amy likes Shadow then… it's not like he'll like her back so-"

Suddenly, Sticks called out, "Look!" pointing to Shadow walking passed Meh Burger; but to Sonic, he only saw him walking _undoubtedly_ in the direction of Amy…

His eyes flared with heat-seeking missiles, beeping off in his head before he swiped the 'potion' out and rushed off to Amy.

"Sonic! Wait!" Tails smirked, pretending to not want him to rush off but was holding back his laughter.

'This is perfect! Amy won't get it, but Sonic will think she's under its spell or- something! She can act herself without holding back. This could be kinda fun! _heh,_ _she'll thank me later._ '

However… Sonic was moving too fast and didn't see the Walrus lady's baby tip back and spill his drink all over the floor ahead of him. He ran right through it, his determined and angry face suddenly shifting as he struggled with the loss of balance; trying to stay on his one foot that was sliding about, straining to keep him upright, he waved his arms about in distress.

The flask loosened from his grip.

"W-woah!" he moved in a zig-zag before hitting another table, slamming his torso and having his legs fling up underneath, his arms spread straight out over it. Besides the pain of the additional face-plant to the table's surface, Sonic also felt the vile fly from his hands, flipping slowly through the air.

Shadow stopped, watching it in a bit of surprise before it broke. Some of it splashed on his shoe, causing him to step back.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Shadow scanned the shattered object and the goo on his shoe. He sniffed, "Ugh.. smells like berries…" he then growled, "I hate sweet-smelling things." He went to crush the remaining glass with his goo-covered shoe.

Amy lowered her hamburger, "Sonic!" Shocked but happy to see him as Dave walked over and put a 'wet floor' sigh a few spaces from him, whistling and scooting it out in sight before walking away. He only came back to mop up some of the spill… poorly so, some might add. "Sorry… I forgot lawsuits were a thing…" he then rolled the bucket of water away, before spilling more and placing an 'especially wet' sign. "Hehehe… but more sprang ankles means paying for more refills! Hahaha!" he laughed maniacally and then dropped his face to a sour one again, bored as ever. "Ohhh… Even being evil at work doesn't make me feel any less pathetic…" he sighed, finally leaving the scene as Sonic rubbed his head and got up from being smacked into the table.

"Oh no!" he gasped, seeing the 'potion' on the toe of Shadow's shoe. "The love potion! Ah!" He looked over to Amy, "No!" he slammed his head on the table, hitting it repeatedly in failure at his mistake. "Stupid, stupid-! I blew it!"

"Explain this dramatic sob-story, before I get upset... and trust me. I'm only ever _mildly_ upset. You don't want to see what happens when I'm-" he tensed every muscle in his hand. The squeezing sound was from the gloves struggling against the protruding veins of his restrained annoyance. " _Agitated._ "

"Shadow's gonna fall in love with Amy!"

"I'll do what now?" Shadow leaned back, looking frustrated, but also highly confused.

Knuckles flipped through his fairy tale book and gasped at a picture within, raising a hand to his cheek. He once again gasped loudly, "Even just a drop! Right now the love potion is seeping through his big left toe and starting to make its way through his body and into his heart-stream!"

"Bloodstream." Tails corrected, looking a bit like a know-it-all and being disappointed that Knuckles was so close to sounding reasonably believable until that point. 'He might as well do the work for me. But at least I can help him do it right'.

"BLOOD?" he screamed like a small infant child and fainted. Sticks screamed at the loud, annoying range Knuckles had generated with his voice and dug a hole, popping up from the ground with shifty, crazy eyes and her face half concealed in her hole.

"GAH!" She dragged and half threw Knuckles down into the hole, covering it after with him still within. "Don't scare me like that!" ...Apparently... Sticks reacts fast when spooked.

"You mean to tell me you and your pathetic friends spilled a … ugh, I don't even want to form the syllables to its revolting four-lettered structure contrived of... bah… _cute_ …" Shadow clenched his fists, his anger growing as he scowled. "You did this to me, hedgehog… now, you'll have to pay."

"No… no, no! You don't even get it! Didn't you hear him?! It's seeping into your bloodstream right now!" Sonic continued, waving a desperately hopeless hand out to Shadow, complaining.

Knuckles's muffled shriek could be heard under the little mound of earth he was recently buried under. As Sticks would say, it 'covered-up' his shrill and girly noises she couldn't stand nor bear. She sat by the mound though, making sure the sound stayed in there...

"Seeping? Ugh… oh no…" Shadow… suddenly bent down?

"I can feel the awful.. tingling sensation of my will succumbing to some… deep, dark magic!" his teeth clenched, body slightly quaking at one point as he gripped the ground upon his knees, seeming to strain in immeasurable pain.

Tails and the others quickly rushed over, worried. Knuckles emerged from the ground, gasping and placing his hands on either side of his face.

"Oh no! Not the tingling! Next comes the illusion that Amy's really prettier than she looks!"

"Hey!" Amy shouted out, still confused with what was happening, and having half a burger already stuffed in her face.

Shadow turned to look at Amy, as if in agony, before dramatically lifting himself up off his knees and stepping back. "No! She's already morphing into some… divine creature! Beautiful even! With the trance of some sirenic harpy!" he seemed both fearfully disgusted and angry towards her, moving an arm up and back as if he didn't want any part of himself near her image.

She turned to him, having been completely caught off-guard by his words, as some fry sauce or ketchup leaked from her mouth. She quickly swallowed and wiped the yucky evidence of her appalling state away cleanly, nervously chuckling and being embarrassed by everyone staring at Shadow... then herself. "Ehem… hehe… uh…" she lowered herself behind her table, ears slightly drawn back.

"Knuckles! Everything he's saying... Shadow's..." Tails tried to sort out why Shadow was actually having symptoms to the jelly. Was he allergic? Was that the tingling? Or...

"Oh no…" he suddenly rose his head in understanding.

"This is all causing… some weird placebo effect!" Tails gripped his head, before looking to Sonic and quickly deciding to go on with it. After all… now that things went south, he didn't want to admit his blunder to his best friend…

That would be more than embarrassing, Sonic might not forgive him for his white lying!

"PAL CEBO!? I'm not here." Sticks dug up her hole in the ground, pulling out Knuckles, dinosaur bones, ancient relics, and then cobblestones from China.

"What? Whose Pal?"

"Oh! Good thinking, Tails! Best not to associate ourselves with him. For now, he doesn't even exist. I'll go undercover for a while… Get back to me in ten." She dived further down the rabbit hole…

"Sticks! Wait! Ten what?! Sticks!"

"Everything Shadow despises is now becoming his fascination!" Sonic only added to the illusion, as Shadow covered his face.

"Ugh!" he tried to fight the imaginary power that was forcing him to feel what Sonic had described. "N..Ruah! Useless! Normally, I'd destroy all things cheery and… _pink_."

Amy just blinked her eyes, before glaring at him, placing her hands on her hips and up from behind the table. "Hey! Pink is a _great_ color!"

"My second most hated color compared to Blue… and Maroon… man, I hate that color. It literally doesn't go with anything I wear! But I digress." He straightened himself out after narrowing his eyes and growing darker with his tone and hatred, "No matter what, my powers are futile to this strange magic's effects." He looked at his hand, turning it to its backside as if examining the change in him. "I must make you mine! You're now more precious than this filthy, puny island's sum and even it's destruction! You're the only thing this magic desires, ergo, the only thing that will consume my thoughts..." He darted his eyes up to her, making her flinch back at how serious he looked.

She threw out an ' _Eep!_ '.

"Prepare yourself for an uncontrolled force of unrequited rage and emotion!"

He hunkered down, ready to come at her.

"…Why does that sentence _sound_ like nonsense but make _absolute_ sense to me?"

He lunged at Amy as Sonic turned to see him nab her.

He threw her over his shoulder, causing her to gasp, before turning to Sonic and his friends. "Don't interfere!" He seemed to bark back at them, leaning forward threateningly on the table down towards their direction.

He then warped away while Amy looked flabbergasted by his actions, "Wait, wha-?" she was cut off by the teleportation.

" ** _Amy!_** "

The team came charging into Meh Burger,

 _but it was too late_.

"Oh my word! Amy's DEAD!" Sticks gripped her head, freaking out.

"N-no! I'm sure we can track down Shadow and rescue her. Sonic! … Sonic?" Tails turned to calm her down, but when he pivoted to address Sonic…

Sonic was mumbling something, looking down at the ground with absolute rage, clenching a fist. "You think you can just walk in here and… Am I gonna put up with that? Is Sonic The Hedgehog just gonna let some… some other _hedgehog_ take away one of his friends!? A _hedgehog_ friend?! Whose cinnamon rolls can't be detested!? NOT ON _THIS HEDGEHOG'S_ LAWN!" he threw down his finger, as the Meh Burger customers turned to see his outburst… The Walrus lady taking a small bite as if secretly liking 'the dinner and a show' aspect of it.

Though to everyone around, it really didn't make much sense...

"This is _my_ turf! That's _my_ friend!" he pointed to the table Amy was at, then towards the mountains. "And you're gonna be sorry!" He twisted his pointed hand up in scorn towards the mountain and narrowed his eyes, meaning business.

He took off in such a fury that the Walrus's baby, which was clapping on the table and probably not to Sonic's self-motivation speech, started rolling backwards from the wind's velocity Sonic had created behind him. "My baby!" The Walrus lady instinctively dived backwards to catch her falling child.

She then raised it in the air, victorious at successfully catching him, while his body wobbled up in her hand. "Ah!" he smiled.

"Oh, what have I done… Amy's going to be so confused… Sonic's gonna be upset…" Tails started to freak out himself, looking right, then left, his hands motioning to each direction before flinging to his head. "Errr… I need to think!"

"Amy already looked confused." Sticks admitted, having climbed up to the top of the hole and placed a bored looking hand on the side of her resting face, her other arm supporting her up on the hole's edge.

"And Knuckles is gonna eat these fries-that Amy left behind- because _food_!..." he paused a moment, as if for some dramatic flair. "-Does not go wasted." Knuckles walked over to the table, lifted up the fries, then with a professor's pointed finger, raised a hero's leg up to steady him on the table and took a bite. The citizens around clapped quietly as if what he stated was profound or also motivational.

"Ugh, Knuckles. Don't justify stealing kidnapped people's food." Sticks shook her head, before seeing ketchup. "Oh! Ketchup!" She slurped the rest out of the provided bottle. "Ah~" She stuck her tongue out in satisfaction before seeing Knuckles's judgmental accusation, directed with a pointed finger and an elongated- ' _heeey_...'.

She then laid herself over the table and took the ketchup packets.

Knuckles looked disappointed that she was doing it, but had scolded him for doing so.

"What? I know it's wrong. I disgust society. But you don't make my choices."

"Would you two-!... wait, that's it." Tails was about to lash out a little at them, not sure how to handle all his emotions towards a problem unsolved, before smiling giddily.

"Sticks! Knuckles! Your geniuses!" he then rushed off, as the two remained motionless in their confusion and shifted only their eyes to each other.

He then came rushing back, pointing a finger, "NEVER quote me on that." He then gestured with his hand for them to follow him. "Come on!"

-The Cave of Wonders

I MEAN-*Cough crap, copyright cough*-

-The Cave of the Mountain-

... ahem.

Shadow stood motionless in the cave. Frowning with disgruntled rage, he crossed his arms.

Although tied up, Amy looked relatively unamused as he stood there,... not moving... at least he wasn't being senseless again.

"…So… Run it by me… _one_ more time." She sarcastically seemed to have repeated the same line before and Shadow threw his foot down, shaking some rocks on the mountain's top.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, object of my unwilling and zealous affections!" he turned, furiously and agitated to no end with her.

"The magic that's overwhelmed my senses must instruct me as to what to do next. Until then…" he gripped his hand in front of him, which for a moment, made her crunch her face back and widened her frown to reveal her teeth in fear.

"…You're my prisoner."

"Annnnd the intimidations gone. Way to heighten the hostility." Amy rolled her eyes. "But, I guess it's more exciting then Eggman's random attempts. So..." she crossed her legs.

"How _annoyingly pretty_ are my eyes again?"

"ENOUGH! You will not pain me in my torture of this… this accursed magic!" he flung his arm to the side and moved away from her, standing outside the cave and folding his arms once again. "Any minute now… the magic will take over, and you'll be at my mercy…"

"…Mercy please." She smirked and 'pfft'ed to the side, once again, not impressed. "Did you take these lines from a soap opera? Or a particularly _musical_ opera?"

"Your sarcasm won't evade what will inevitably come." He turned his head to look over his shoulder, "Trust me, my pain is far worse than yours." He then glared out from the cave, scowling…

"Any second now…"

The two waited... Amy laying down on her side as Shadow stood with no movement.

The cave echoed the wind for a standing moment...

"Ugh! This is pointless!" Amy flung down her feet and got herself up by using a rock formation near her. "Shadow! It wasn't the magic instructing you to do _anything_! It was Sonic and Knuckles!"

Shadow's eyes widened, before flinging himself around. "Impossible! Nothing but the strongest magic could compel me to say and do all the things they just so happened to notice was happening!"

"Oh, right, well, _come on_ Shadow! Look, I'm not one to want to whisk away the idea of magic from the world, but I'm not gonna _delude_ myself into believing that you're under some kind of-"

"AMY!" Sonic's spinball arched in a blue streak into the cave. He uncurled with one hand down and taking the impact on his knee and leg, like a true hero's entrance.

"…Sonic?" she was pleasantly surprised, blinking her eyes for a moment as she straightened herself out.

"Don't worry, Amy!" He got up, acting like the part. "I won't let the magic spell placed on Shadow give you false hope!" he swiped his hand out, as Amy stared at him with puzzlement. "Unless..." he slowly lost his confidence... suddenly lowering his hand. "This is... kinda your... thing."

" _What?_ "

"Sonic! So you've come..."

"Shadow... I know there's no way you can break yourself free of the love potions grip... but that doesn't mean I'll let you fool Amy!"

"Where did this all come from? Love potions?" She leaned her head a little towards him, shaking her head. "Oh for the love of- you two don't actually believe that Shadow was influenced by a _love potion_!" she looked at each of their faces. "Am I being pranked?" she looked away a moment, trying to asset the situation as Shadow moved in front of her, towards Sonic.

"I'm still uncertain how this potion's effects work… but I know that it wouldn't want you taking the object of it's pining that easily!" he prepared himself for a fight, and for a second, it looked like a showdown. His hand wiggled some of its fingers, as Sonic also glared more intensely as the wind blew by both of them from the cave's entrance.

The two then leaped at each other, fighting and rolling around like two dorks. " _OffphughkaermphgrahIsawherfirstyourahgahkyahhupah_!"

Amy quickly ran into the fray but avoided their death-roll across the cave's floor. "Guys, guys, guys! There's nothing to gain from all this fighting!" She dodged their path of destruction again and ran back to the center. "Honestly! I'm not one to swoon over two men beating themselves up for absolutely no reason!" she ran off from their rolling dust trail created from their intense fighting. "Ugh, men." When they wouldn't listen, Amy just sighed and shook her head.

"Once again, it's up to me to be the rational one." Amy muttered, trying to scrape her restraints up against a cave's stalagmite, but it wasn't sharp enough. She frustratedly lifted her head back, realizing that all the rock formations in the cave were too dull to cut through...

"Amy!" A hand flopped up to grip the edge of the cave's entrance.

"Tails! Knuckles, Sticks!" Amy watched the team hoisted themselves over, having exhaustedly climbed up the mountain to the cave. Amy ran over to see them, overjoyed. "I'm so glad to see you! Could someone please explain what's going on? And Tails, why didn't you just fly?"

Tails huffed on the ground in exhaustion. "No time... to get the... plane. You try hauling him over a steep mountain!" he pointed accusingly to Knuckles, who looked up from resting at Sonic and Shadow. "He wouldn't let go of that stupid book to climb himself!"

"OH NO!" Knuckles exclaimed, ignoring Tails talking about him, and stopping Shadow and Sonic in a frozen duel within their circling battle-ball.

"Oh bother." Tails facepalmed, knowing what was coming next.

"The magic's causing Shadow to have an all-out battle royale for Amy's affections! This is just like Chapter 27." Knuckles quickly flipped through the book he had stashed away, taking out his glasses and adjusting them, sticking his tongue to the side in his deep concentration. "Says here that … yep, they won't stop till either the magic is dispelled _or_..."

"Or?" Sticks turned to Knuckles as if to encourage him on.

"NO!" Tails tried to stop her, reaching for her on the ground.

"They'll fight to the death." He shrugged, shutting the book in one hand as if matter-of-factly. He was poised with a knowing and indifferent stance, a small neutral frown with closed eyes.

The two hedgehogs eyes blinked, before slowly turning to one another in absolute hatred and complete resolve.

"AHHHH! Takethisgrahruffphomphnobitinggahohouchorhairpullingkahhyahnottheface!" they resumed their battle-ball effect.

Amy groaned before Tails bit his nails worriedly again, knowing the two hedgehogs believed Knuckles ridiculous conclusions and grabbed Amy to move her to the side.

"Okay." He began, whispering. "This is what we're gonna do."

As he continued to explain, Amy cried out, "WHAT!?"

This shook the cave again… more rocks falling from the ceiling… and the echoing traveling…

"Amy, please!" Tails crunched his body down and into himself, really feeling the guilt now. "I was only trying to-"

"I don't care! You lied, Tails! I don't need to know why you lied, only that you did! And I don't like Shad-" she was cut off by Tails's hand, moving quickly to cover her mouth.

"Would you just do what I said!?" He looked desperate, "Please! They might actually _kill each other!"_

"Ugh." Amy rolled her eyes, "Untie me and I'll play the part."

"Thank you, Amy! Thank you!" Tails quickly did so, and she shook out her arms, stretching, before falling with a helpless gasp, dramatizing as she flung her arm over her head.

"Oh, woe is me! Two men fighting for me, and one under a…" she glared at Tails, moving the arm. "Love… spell…" she lowered her eyes into a scolding glare, still not fully forgiving Tails before returning to her act. "If only there was a way…"

"Of course!" Tails played along.

The two men stopped fighting again to listen.

"The spell could be reversed! If we could place the spell on someone else…" he pretended to rub his chin.

"Well, the book doesn't exactly say-" Knuckles began to dig through the pages, Sticks climbing his arm to look over his shoulder before Tails grabbed the book and smashed it over Knuckles's head, holding it there while flying up to sustain the reach of Knuckles's height.

"AS I WAS SAYING-" Tails silenced him, but it was more comical than mean.

"Oh, man!" Knuckles exclaimed then, "Spoiler alert, Tails! I totally just saw the picture of the ending!"

"You mean … you were interpreting pictures this whole time!?" Sticks wagged her arms about, her legs keeping her position upon his arm and by his shoulder.

"Eh-heh-heh…"

"All that stuff about a love spell…" Tails looked down, before shaking his head, "Anyway! Forget that!" Tails sat down on the book upon Knuckles's head.

"Ahh! Everything went dark!" Knuckles shook his hands out to the sides of him, then up to try and see if he could touch Tails. "Does this mean the whole thing blacks out in the end?! Like... Like a doomsday apocalypse!?"

"Apoco Lisp!? I'm not here!" Sticks dug in the cave's floor, causing the unstable ground to shake a little under a faulty foundation...

"Not again." Tails wished the two would at least hold Shadow and Sonic back... but it looks like he'd have to do things himself this time around.

"Just listen to me! Sonic!" He pointed to Sonic, muffling Knuckles by pushing the open book further down on his head. "If you look into Shadow's eyes long enough, the spell will transfer to you! Look to Amy and then have the spell transfer to her!" He instructed. "If you do that, the spell should be weakened enough that Amy can break out of it in…" He side-glanced Amy, who nodded. "…10 minutes!" She coughed. "7?" She coughed harder. "Ugh…20?" she smiled widely, bubbles and sparkles around her as she excitedly thought about 20 minutes of not having to hide her real feelings for Sonic anymore.

"Ehem… well, that looks about right." Tails picked the book up and faked glancing it over, covering up the fact that Amy was cueing him.

Sonic glared to Shadow, "Ugh, I don't get this whole… love potion thing… but if that's how it works… I'll trust what your eyes read, Tails!" He smashed his two palms into the sides of Shadow's face, smushing it as Shadow looked truly annoyed now.

He stared…

"ERK!" Shadow twitched, "I feel it… the magic… draining from me…" He flinched his fingers.

Sonic then shut his eyes, "Okay! Got it!" He tried to move but kept crashing into the wall, then tripped over a small boulder in the cave, still stumbling. "Darn! If I open my eyes now, I'll be affected by the magic to fall for the first thing I see! I gotta make my way to Amy or-"

Sticks popped her head up from the ground, "Gee, this cave kinda looks like it's about to-" before having Sonic trip over her head. "Ow! Hey!... woah, you alright?" curiously, she looked to Sonic, before Amy, worriedly, raced up to pull her out of the hole and push her away as Sonic slowly opened his eyes.

She giggled nervously, "Oh… haha, hi, Sonic."

Sonic sucked in some air, "AMY!" He gripped her head and got up, untwisting himself from his last fall. "I know this doesn't make sense,.. but it's for your own good!" He then moved his face in closer… staring intently into her eyes.

She tried so hard to remain still, but was fawning over how much he was fighting… fighting for something so silly as… _getting her to fall in love with him_ …

Shadow slowly got up, his hand on his head, "Wha… what is this..?" He looked down at his hands. "This feeling… like an emptiness… rejection of all other emotions… a darkness swirling all around me… ready to consume me into never-ending, torturous existence of being! An absolute solitude with no forgiving end..!" His whole body jerked violently before shaking… Then it suddenly stopped. Being already hunched over, he smiled and balled his hands into fists. "… _I like it_."

He looked back to the gang, "Your pathetic magics won't seize me so easily next time… and when that time comes… it'll be on my terms!" He raced out of the cave, but as he did so, he saw the earth shake and lost some footing, having to stop and look around. "What!? This is not on my terms!"

"The cave… it's collapsing!" Tails shouted, looking around. But the echo started to shake the cave even more, and the crew cried out as they covered their heads from the ceiling's rocks crumbling down above them. "Sonic!"

"Not yet!" His serious scowl twitched along with his sight narrowing on Amy's eyes. The middle bridge of his connected eyes dipped down to show how truly focused he was on this. "The magic hasn't transferred yet!"

"Yes it has." Amy put her hands to his, which were on the sides of her face, and smiled. "Sonic… I…"

"It's going to fall! Amy!" Tails cried out, but Knuckles picked both him and Sticks up, looking back to the two.

"Hurry!" before jumping out of the cave with Shadow to escape.

Sticks saw his book drop to the ground, and reached for it. "Knuckles! Your book!"

"It's okay." He sniffed back what seemed to be sorrow of some kind. "I already saw it... the happy ending." he then jumped down.

" _I really like you_."

Sonic's eyes widened, losing their serious look.

He moved his head back, losing his grip on her face.

He removed his hands, but she held them in their place gently as his eyes searched her own.

"I've always felt this way. I knew you kinda knew but…" she looked away, "B-but... I was too afraid... Afraid you'd freak out and wouldn't talk to me again. I didn't know if you wanted me to like you… but I do. I really do! Even without a stupid love potion, I-!"

"No…" Sonic held a hand up in front of her, looking away. "Not like this…" His voice grew grave, stopping her dead in her tracks as she sucked in some dust from the falling rock walls…

"You're…" He swallowed and took a deep breath, going back to 'hero mode' and looking back to her again. His hands immediately moved out of her soft grasp and placed a firm hold on her shoulders, shaking her lightly. "It's just the love spell! But it's okay, Amy! I won't let Shadow break your heart by rejecting you… I… I wouldn't let anyone break your heart."

She was confused again, before looking up and gasping.

"Sonic!"

She embraced him, and with that, a surge of heroic energy sped through Sonic's feet and he grabbed her back, picking her up, and dodged falling rock debris.

"Hang on!" he threw his enerbeam out.

As they jumped from the steep cave's cliff, they fell out of view while the rockslide continued…

The blue enerbeam waved in the wind… then a red, and yellow, and lastly orange one flew down to connect with it.

-The Jungle near Sonic's Hut.-

Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks watched from afar as Sonic nervously took in all of Amy's fawning and doting on him, watching her blame it on the magic as she kept up the act… unsure if he would be able to handle her true feelings if he thought it was real…

"She's doing pretty good…" Tails, in a somber tone, looked through his binoculars before handing them with a sad frown to Knuckles, then cupping his hands around his chin to lean on a branch. "It's just sad she has to hide behind the ' _love potion_ ' lie…"

"Lie!? Tails, you might of lied, but love potions are real!" Knuckles affirmed, taking the binoculars and looking through them. "Woah-ho!"

"W-what? Did something happen!?" Tails tried to squint his eyes, looking up and moving his head around to see better.

"Birds!" Knuckles laughed. "I like birds."

"Ugh." Tails looked to see him bird-watching and fell back on his butt to pick at grass. "We're supposed to be watching love-birds…" He sighed and got up. "Sonic is waiting for me to tell him the 20 minutes are up, but…" He looked to see Amy enjoying the fact that she could express herself like this… hugging him and fiddling with his hair without Sonic doing much to stop her, other than looking a bit shy and uncomfortable.

But… it was working, wasn't it?

Then again… was this really the way Amy wanted to it to go?

Should it have been done like this?

Sticks chewed on what looked like a thick piece of bark. "Look." She spat it out. "Some birds show off with feathers…"

"I already know, you told me about that, remember?" Tails was growing kinda impatient with his friends, wishing he had done things differently and looked at his shoes…

" _ **But**_." Sticks glared at him, getting up and putting her hands to her hips, looking down on him. "Some birds have to court each other in different ways!"

"…Huh?" Tails turned around and looked up at her. This wasn't what she said when he was trying to impress Zooey...

"Some birds fly off and dive down really fast together, a fleet of perfect courage." She continued, miming the actions with her hands in a goofy but effective way. "Some call out really loud. CAWWW CAWW!" she imitated, and Knuckles grew excited.

"Was that the cry of the legendary birdman!?" he raced off.

"Knuckles, are news is provided by a birdman.." Tails sweatdropped, before looking back to Sticks.

"Ehem, as I was saying. Other birds just find their way to each other's nest." She shrugged.

"That doesn't make sense." Tails bent his eyebrows close together, trying to figure out her metaphor. "Sonic and Amy didn't _just_ find each other. Nor did Amy really have to play along with the love potion, and Sonic didn't have to think it was the love spell making her say all those things and act the way she is, and-!"

"Woah, woah, woah." Sticks waved her hands out in front of her. "I wasn't talking about Sonic and Amy! They're hedgehogs! I was speaking about birds! Geez, Tails. You really don't listen to anybody." She sighed and walked off. "Whatever, your mind seems preoccupied anyways!"

"…Wait… not listening… that's it!" He once again got up and embraced Sticks. "You never cease to amaze me, Sticks! You're wise, even in your own..! Well, wild ways!" He smiled giddily to her, before looking back to Knuckles, "I'm sorry for shouting at you two and trying to do this all by myself." He then looked back to her, frozen in his embrace. "You can totally quote me on saying this though, you guys… are the greatest friends I could ever ask for!" He then took off towards Sonic and Amy.

Sticks slowly fought a smile on her face; as it wiggled into place, she smacked herself. "Oh no you don't, you traitor! It's just the second-hand love spell effects! You know better…" She scolded herself, and then walked over to Knuckles before her knees gave out and she slumped down on the ground; toppling over and gripping her face, hollering, "IT'S THE MAGIC'S RADIATION I TELL YA!" she gulped, as if unsure herself.

Knuckles turned back to her, "Huh? Uh, oh.."

A bird landed on Sticks, squawked, and flew off.

She flopped around on the ground after that, crying out that the magic was attracting more lovebirds to the area… and hence, bad omens would fall.

"And your hair~"

"You mentioned my hair." Sonic folded his arms, looking away.

"O-oh… and your eyes~"

"Oceans of glory, yeah, I heard it." He seemed annoyed.

"…What's wrong, Sonic?" She came a little closer, but he fidgeted and scurried away from her.

"NNuh! Ah.. uh…" he looked away a few times. "Just… it's not fair to you… you don't know what you're saying… or doing for that matter. None of this is… you." He brought his legs up to him, and Amy's heart sank down.

'…He can't recognize… that it's me?' she put her hand to her heart, her eyes shaking and trying to hold back tears.

She squinted her eyes shut. 'I knew it! I knew if I revealed how I truly felt he'd… I'm such a weirdo!'

"Y-you're right." Amy turned away, rubbing her arm. "Silly me. It's just the magic telling me how awfully brave and determined you were to race after me so quickly... so boldly... more so than I've ever seen you before... and take on Shadow just to spare me whatever you think was between me and Shadow." She didn't see it, but Sonic slowly turned to look at her again. She thought it crazy, Sonic thinking she liked Shadow. But for some reason, cute all the same too. Especially how he reacted... did he really care that much about her feelings? When he usually gagged at the very mention of them? Or the meetings she would try and set up for them?

"...It was the magic telling me how much I didn't want you fighting each other. Because I didn't want you to get hurt... it was the magic that held my eyes to yours and wished that it wasn't magic... that maybe it... it could be..." she held herself back, "... more than magic?" she couldn't speak, but for some reason, her mind acted on its own and she turned back to him.

His eyes were fixated on her being, and she felt the fearful warmth of confessing to him trace her cheeks and leave her helpless to him once again. "Maybe... it could be..." she swallowed. "My own feelings..?"

After a moment of silence, she shook her head and played it off, "Haha! Mixed with magic? Haha... ha... Maybe it really is all magic." She looked away. "You were always so cool, Sonic... I wanted to fight and be strong enough to make it into your team. Your little circle of friends... But when I got there, I just felt a little more lonelier. Even more so than when I admired you from afar. And holding everything back... If the magic didn't bring it out, did it affect my memories too?" she tried to look back at him again but grew so nervous she couldn't and stopped herself from peeking his way... "Em... I umm... I love being a team. I love our friends... Even if they do stupid things sometimes..." she growled a little, thinking of Tails's lies, Knuckles's make-believe, and Sticks well... being Sticks.

"But they all are so important to me now. I'm sure not even the strongest of magic could change that."

He only stared. But so much was happening inside of him. A silent conversation. A growing weariness. For some reason...

 _He was finding it harder and harder to believe she was being_ _influenced by something else..._

"Amy..."

"... _I'm sorry it's just magic, Sonic... You really do deserve better than... than a... cheap parlor trick_."

"STOP!" Tails spiraled out. "You have to listen to her, Sonic! Granted, with a grain of salt, but… but…" He stopped by them, coming back to the ground. "She's still as honest as she can be! Exaggerated or not! She's telling the truth!"

He looked to Amy, whose eyes were full of fear, and shaking her head, trying to communicate for him to not-

"Amy's not under a love spell!" He cried out, shaking his fists. "I made the whole thing up! Knuckles couldn't even read the book! He was interpreting pictures using his imagination! And Sticks? Well… she's lovable Sticks!" he flat out stated, as Amy grew more embarrassed and got up away from Sonic, putting a hand over her eyes to shield herself from the impending doom of having Sonic realize it wasn't magic... What would he do? Would that ruin their friendship forever?

She didn't want to see him look at her… she didn't want to be there anymore… this was all wrong.

"What?" Sonic got up, still looking unfazed. "Impossible. I felt it. And you had the potion-"

"I had jelly!" he threw his arms up. "I had berry-flavor number 5!" he admitted full-heartedly and then gestured to Amy. "But Amy never lied! Everything she's told you she's felt for a very long time! And everything you thought you heard wasn't just her influenced by something false. It's all real! And you need to hear her out! _As though it was real!"_

"…Amy…" Sonic slowly stepped back, before sharply turning to her. "Is that true!?"

"You fell under a placebo effect! You thought the love potion was happening, but… but it wasn't! Shadow too!" Tails continued.

Sonic looked back at him.

Amy held herself. Thousands of voices and doubts… fears and insecurities… then the sound of Sonic's voice…

"Amy… You are under a love spell…"

She held her breath.

".. _Aren't you?"_

He moved closer,

Reaching out…

She lifted her head.

Was his voice in fear?

In acceptance?

What was it?

"OF COURSE NOT!"

She yelled out.

Sonic's hand shook, but only leaned back a moment, before going for her again.

"I'VE LOVED YOU SINCE I MET YOU, YOU… YOU KNEW THAT ALL ALONG! Yet you… you…"

"..!"

"…It's gone."

Amy lifted her head more.

"It was a love spell… Tails was just trying to make you feel better."

Tails's eyes widened.

"Amy… don't do this to yourself…"

"It's okay, Tails… the minutes are up… I'm back… I don't know what I was talking about. Heh." Her shoulders came up, trying to hold back the crack in her voice. "I guess I'm snapped out of it… how embarrassing… No need to tell me how you feel… no need to dodge the subject… it's gone. The magic's…

 _Gone_."

She quickly ran out of the way of his grasp, and headed back for his home, trying to keep her head down so he couldn't see her tears.

Sonic pivoted faster than the speed of light as Tails was pushed slightly back by the wind speed. "SONIIIICCC!" He cried out, watching his friend chase after her.

She jumped in the hammock and covered herself up, knowing she couldn't outrun him as he burst through the door, knocking it down and off it's newly made hinges.

She gasped and lurched forward from the covers, seeing it cracked and the wood spraying up from the center.

He really spun into that door pretty hard… or kicked it. Either way…

"Sonic…" she sweated in fear, before seeing him huffing and puffing at the entrance, walking over the door.

"But… You said Shadow…" He gripped his hand into a tight fist, shaking it as the night covered his eyes… but his muzzle revealed his clenched teeth, holding back so much…

She shook her head and hid in the covers again. "Tails already told you! He was under the placebo ef- I mean… the love potion!"

He walked so fast that she felt the wind as he ripped the covers off from hiding herself.

She gasped again when he whipped the covers down by his side.

" _He said you were beautiful!_ "

"S-so?!" She turned to him.

" _I believed him!_ "

"T..That he was under the spell?"

Amy was trapped, looking afraid before he dropped the covers and gripped both sides of the hammock, trapping her even more as his head still was swiped half in shadows; Covering his eyes and any hope she had at seeing an expression…

"I believed everything… he said…"

Amy held her eyes locked on the shadows, shaking for understanding.

"…S…Sonic?"

He leaned down, and she found herself moving down too… mostly out of nervous fear, never having seen him act this way.

"Sonic… what are you…"

Tails frantically landed by the door, breathing hard and looking in.

He quickly pulled away when he saw the two by the hammock…

Unsure what was commencing, he quickly froze up and about-faced, standing perfectly straight and blinking his eyes.

"Whelp."

He took a deep breath.

"I guess that's a real love spell."

He then smiled faintly and rubbed behind his head, scratching away any lingering regret.

"Heh… maybe…

 _That's just how hedgehogs do it_."


End file.
